The Project

Projects involve the production of products, which, over the years, have come in many forms. These include educational cd-roms or web sites, documentary films, walking tours, agency reports, apps, museum exhibits, and historic preservation and restoration work. Projects must also contain an analytical written component of at least 5,000 words that explores the historiography, methodology and/or significance of the project within the field of history.

Prior to beginning the project, and under the guidance of their project advisor, the student will craft and defend a written prospectus of their topic and research plan. The student will create a supervisory committee of (usually) three faculty members to approve the prospectus, assess the student’s project, and administer and evaluate an oral thesis defense.

Projects should be well written and designed, and utilize the professional style manual preferred by historians; the written portion might be published on Scholarworks and available to the public.

The student will defend their project in a formal and public forum, guided by their project committee and facilitated by their advisor. The student will present orally (generally 10-20 minutes) a summary of their work, then answer a series of analytical questions about it.